Fairy Tail Daycare
by Princess Emphasis
Summary: "In the town of Magnolia, near the town hall, sits the town's most famous and popular daycare: Fairy Tail. " Rated T just in case. Main pairing is Gruvia.
1. Chapter 1

Gray's Home

Gray walked into Fairy Tail, looking around with a content sigh.

He had just gotten back from a week long school trip with the arts department. It hadn't been as fun as he thought it was, and the cost he had to pay made him regret signing up to go on the trip. But now he was back in Magnolia and at Fairy Tail. Looking around the reception area and, despite it not having much but the essentials, and a few pictures drawn by the kids, a small smile formed on his lips, he missed this place.

Walking over to a door behind the receptionist desk marked "Makarov's Office", Gray knocked lightly. After a few minutes the door opened and Gray greeted his boss with a grin. "I'm back."

Makarov smiled brightly in response, "Welcome back, Gray." He walked out of the way, allowing Gray entrance into his office. Gray bowed his head slightly and set his backpack down by the door before entering, hearing Makarov shut the door behind him before walking over to the desk and leaping upon it as if he was younger than he actually is.

"You shouldn't do that old man. You know you're eighty-eight right?" Gray smirked slightly, the teasing tone in his voice unmistakable. Gray knew that despite Makarov's age, he was as fit as and had the energy of a man over half his age.

Makarov let out a hearty chuckle in response, sitting cross legged on his desk while Gray sat across from him in a seat. "So how was the trip?" after asking, Gray let out a small sigh.

"Boring." He said simply, "It rained half the time and the other half was spent sitting around listening to some guy lecturing us about stuff we've already learned before the trip," Gray sighed, his shoulders sagging slightly. Makarov let out a small chuckle before reaching up and patting Gray on the head.

Gray let a small smile slip. "The kids missed you, ya know? Natsu kept complaining about how Bisca just "wasn't as fun to wrestle with as Gray is"." Makarov spoke, a small laugh escaping as he finished talking.

Gray chuckled, "Of course he'd say something like that." Standing up, Gray stretched, "Are the kids here yet or is it still too early?" he asked, his arms slumping down to his side.

"Natsu and Lucy aren't here yet, but Erza is." Makarov responded, a sad and small smile forming on his lips. Gray's own smile grew a bit smaller, understanding why his boss would smile like that.

Erza lived at a rather poor orphanage, and despite how smart and nice Erza was, people would rather adopt the more younger children. And just a month ago, her best friend, Jellal Fernandes, had been relocated to a different orphanage in hopes he might have a better chance elsewhere. Ever since he got relocated and since no one else at the orphanage was really her friend, Erza had been going to the daycare earlier and earlier until she started arriving just minutes after Makarov.

Gray walked over to the door, waving a hand slightly, "Well I should go see her then." he said, opening the door and closing it behind him as he left the office. Picking up his backpack, he walked over to another door to the right of the room, this one you just had to push lightly to open.

* * *

He walked into the daycare, holding back a small chuckle as he noticed Erza sitting on the bed, reading a book rather than playing with any of the number of toys they had in the room.

"Yo, Erza" he spoke up, walking over to after tossing his back to an empty corner that has long since been designated as 'bag corner'.

Erza looked up from her book, a bit surprised when she sees Gray approaching her, "I didn't think you'd be back so soon," she said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Gray sat down by her, spreading his legs apart slightly and resting his elbows on either knee, looking to see what she's reading.

"They ended earlier because everyone was starting to get miserable and it started to rain more and more." he chuckled. Erza nodded and stretched, letting out a half yawn before quickly covering her mouth. Gray glanced at her, raising an eye brow.

"Did you stay up late again?"

A pause.

After a bit of hesitation, Erza spoke up, "Jellal finally sent me a letter...I couldn't rest until I wrote him back." She responded, trying to sound a bit more mature, despite knowing her excuse was a little silly. To her surprise, Gray ruffled her hair rather than telling her something along the lines of "You should've just waited until today".

"I'll let you off this time." he spoke, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, shutting his eyes for a few moments. After a few moments however, his eyes flew open as a certain pink haired little boy winded him after jumping onto him.

"You're back!" Natsu grinned, excitedly, eliciting a short chuckle from the dark haired man he had just jumped on.

Gray picked up and set Natsu on the ground, ruffling his hair. "Hey flame brain." he snorted. Natsu pouted at the nick name. _You almost burn the building down once when trying to eat fire and you get that nickname for life. _

Natsu opened his mouth to respond, shutting it quickly as his ears twitch. Gray raised an eyebrow at the action, knowing full well that Natsu's hearing is a bit stronger than any average human. After a few seconds, a large grin grew on Natsu's face. "Lucy's here!" He tried to tug at Gray's shirt, soon noticing that Gray didn't _have_ a shirt on. He reached up, trying to flick the older man, who dodged easily. Natsu got down and turned to greet Lucy, only to see her trying not to giggle in the doorway. "Say something if you're here!" he pouted.

"But I didn't want to interrupt~" she teased, walking over to and climbing onto the couch, sitting on the other side of Erza who's been quietly watching, amused. "Welcome back, Gray!" She said cheerfully, looking up at her favorite baby sitter. Gray smiled back in response.

Gray got up, picking up and setting Natsu down on the couch by the two girls. "Alright, first things first, have you all eaten yet?" Lucy was the only one who didn't shake her head. "Come on then you two. Let's get you some breakfast and then we'll all play a game." Gray led the two into the small kitchen, making sure Lucy had something to do while her friends ate.

After the kids ate, the four of them all played until it was time to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

Changes

On a sunny afternoon, all the kids were playing in the yard. Natsu and Lucy being pushed by Erza on the swingset while Gray was doing some light paperwork on the porch. After a while, Makarov appeared at the doorway, motioning for Gray. Gray followed him into his office, taking a seat in front of the desk as Makarov went through a file cabinet. After a few minutes of silence and shuffling through papers, Makarov tossed a couple of files in front of the young man.

"We had two new babysitters apply last week." Makarov began as Gray looked through the files, "Cana Alberona, a 21 year old, who is in college to become a bartender. Normally we wouldn't allow alcohol near this establishment, but she promised not to bring any to the daycare. Plus she so happens to be the daughter of an old friend of mine." Gray looked up at the old man.

"Old friend?" he questioned.

"Gildarts Clive. He used to work here too, but he left to go pursue his dreams." Makarov smiled kindly, feeling nostalgia wash over as he remembered when Gildarts worked there. Lightly shaking his head, he spoke up again, "Next is Levy McGarden, a 16 year old girl who dreams of becoming a kindergarten teacher and writing a book. She just moved here recently from the capital, Crocus." After hearing where she came from, Gray looked up, curious.

"Why would she come all the way here when Crocus probably has better opportunities?" he questioned, looking through the girl's file to see if it has an answer.

"I'm not sure myself. But on a different note, I need you to do me a favor, Gray." Gray nodded slightly and he continued, "They both start today, but there's a little trouble, so I need you to pick them both up for today."

Gray's eyes widened, "What? What could be so troublesome that they can't get here themselves?"

"Levy doesn't have a license yet, and Cana called me earlier and told me that her car is in the shop and won't be out until tomorrow." Makarov folded his arms, watching as Gray sighed and slumped down in his seat.

"What's their addresses?"

* * *

"Thank you so much, Mr. Fullbuster! I owe you one!"

"I told you, just call me Gray…"

"Huh, oh uh… Gray then!"

Levy smiled as Gray backed out of her driveway. She felt a little nervous, her first day of work already, and to top it off she was being driven there by a handsome college boy, just like in the novels she read! She blushed lightly, smiling at the thought. Soon though, she noticed they were driving toward the college. "Um, Gray? Isn't Fairy Tail that way?" she asked, pointing behind them.

Gray nodded, "I have to pick someone else up first, she applied for a job as well and her car is in the shop."

Soon they were pulling up in front of the dorm, Levy gripping to her seat as Gray parked sloppily. "I'll be back in a few minutes, wait here alright?" he said, closing his door and walking to the dorms.

Levy sighed, slumping back in her seat, when something - or rather some_one_ \- caught her eye. Across the street was a man with long black hair, parking his motorcycle. His arms were tattooed all over and he had tons of facial piercings. She watched as he adjusted his bag. He quickly noticed her staring however, and his content expression turned into a sadistic grin. She felt a chill go down her spine as he started going toward the car. She gripped to her skirt and shut her eyes tightly, hoping he'll notice and leave.

A knock on the window signified he was there, she stayed silent. Her eyes quickly snapped open when the man kicked the side of the car. She frowned and rolled down the window a little.

"W… What do you want?" she questioned, stuttering a little at the start as she noticed how scary he looked up close.

"You're one of them Fairy Tail brats, aren't you?" his voice was gruff, "Though I suppose I should ask whether you're a babysitter or a kid?" he spat out, his words laced with a dark sort of amusement as he looked her up and down. Another chill went down her spine, but before she could respond, a yell came from the entrance of the dorms that made the man's head shoot up.

"Gajeel get the hell away from my car!" It was Gray. He came running and the man, Gajeel, snorted as he backed away.

"Alright alright. Not like there's anything good inside. Just a little shrimp." Levy glared up at him, he only smirked before he turned around and started heading to a different building. Gray went to the other side of the car, checking out the dent that Gajeel had left on the door.

Gajeel paused, turning his head back to look at Gray before calling out, "Hey! Jose told me to tell you that he wants to have a talk with Makarov!" his words were laced with a sort of dark amusement. Before Gray could respond though, he left.

Gray sighed and got in the car, leaning back. "You okay?" He asked as he noticed Cana finally leaving the dorm and heading for the car.

Levy nodded, "Who was that…?"

"Gajeel Redfox. A 'babysitter' from the day care across town, Phantom Lord. They're not as well known as us," he paused as Cana got in the back seat, but before he could continue she spoke up.

"Phantom Lord? I heard they're notorious for making fake reviews to get more customers." she said, leaning back and stretching. Gray nodded as he straightened up and started driving.

"Yeah… They always try to outdo us… But they don't have much luck, they're only ten years old." Gray sighed, "Don't know why though, but it seems Makarov has some sort of history with their manager, Jose." Levy looked into her lap, thinking over this new information.

* * *

They finally got to Fairy Tail, but before they even went inside they heard yelling. Loud yelling. Gray ran inside after telling Cana and Levy to wait outside.

As he ran in he saw Lucy's father, Jude Heartfilia, in a very heated argument with Makarov. He opened his mouth to speak and ask what was going on but he stopped when he felt tugging on his pants, he looked down to see Erza with a slightly panicked expression. He bit his lip, looking back at the two who still hadn't noticed he was there. He looked back down at Erza, noticing she was looking to the playroom. He picked her up and went into the playroom.

In the middle of the room, Lucy was crouched and crying while Natsu hugged her, trying to cheer her up with his blue cat plushie. Gray set Erza down and closed the door, walking over to the two and kneeling before speaking quietly. "Hey, what's going on?"

Erza looked to Natsu, who had just noticed Gray was there, "Lucy's dad came to pick her up today but…" Natsu paused, looking back to Erza.

"He said he didn't want Lucy to come to this day care anymore…" Erza paused, "And then him and grandpa started arguing and…" She looked at their silhouettes in the door's window.

Gray frowned, "Why does he not want Lucy to come here anymore?" He asked, and when Erza opened her mouth to answer she was interrupted.

"Because he doesn't care about me at all!" Lucy blurted out, her sobs increasing in volume as she jumped up, knocking Natsu into Gray in the process.

"Lucy!" Gray reached to grab her but he turned his head to look back at the door after hearing the front door slam open. He turned his head back, but Lucy had already ran out the back door. "Erza, Natsu, you two stay here and… And if someone enters and asks where Lucy is, tell them… tell them something" he finished sheepishly, not able to think up a good excuse as he got up.

He heard the yells of a female now amongst the two men, he sighed as he ran out into the back. Looking around, there was no sign of Lucy. "Damn it!" he ran out the gates and headed toward the park, as that was the closest place he knew she could run to easily. After a couple minutes he was there at the park, already spotting the little girl on a bench, knees up to her chest. He walked over and sat by her. "Lucy?" he spoke, getting a small nod in response. He paused, thinking for a second. "Would you like some ice cream?" he asked, she nodded again. He gave her a weak smile before he stood up and went to a small ice cream stand nearby.

Lucy lifted her head up a little, watching as her babysitter bought a couple of ice creams. As he walked back, she slowly put her legs down, swinging them underneath the bench. As he sat back down and handed an ice cream cone to her she finally let a small smile form on her lips.

"Lucy, is something going on at home? Your father normally doesn't yell like that." He asked, looking down at her and watching as her expression changed again.

"Mommy's been really sick lately… Daddy and Dalila both seem less cheerful lately too….they don't talk to me as much…" Lucy sniffled, tearing up. Gray frowned and patted her head.

"I'm sure everything will be okay." he said quietly. They sat quietly for a while, eating their ice creams. It ended soon though, as Makarov and Jude walked up to them, the latter looking extremely panicked.

"Lucy, we're going home _now_." Jude spoke, picking his daughter up and swiftly walking back toward the day care. Gray frowned and looked at Makarov, noticing his worried expression.

"Gramps, what's going on…" he questioned as the older man sat beside him.

"It seems Lucy's mother's illness took a turn for the worse."


End file.
